READING REALITY: THE TORTUOUS PATH TO PERCEPTION IN STEPHEN CRANE'S "THE OPEN BOAT" AND "THE BLUE HOTEL" Santiago Juan-Navarro Columbia University in the City of New York Stephen Crane's short stories transcend the mere depiction of the world as conceived by realism and naturalism. His narratives can be regarded as experiments in perception where the author explores the nature of reality as a human construct. Crane's main concern does not rest on moral assumptions, rather on the frustrating process that makes human beings generate meaning from an indifferent nature. This process is portrayed by exposing the characters to situations that push them to their limits - situations in which human ability to perceive is put to the test, only to be finally undermined. "The Open Boat" and "The Blue Hotel" are exemplary in illustrating the multifarious and deceptive nature of reality. In the former, an ironic kind of self- awareness is achieved by the correspondent's a.cceptance of human limitations and the absurdity of his condition. In the latter, the use of the wrong code of behavior leads to an endless series of misunderstandings and to the subsequent murder of the Swede. Both stories share Crane's characteristic use of ambiguity that lets the reader have a say in the story. It is the intention of this paper to examine the structure, characterization, and symbolism of these two works in order to exemplify Crane's concept of a multi- faceted reality lacking in concrete referents, and its thematization within the text. After a brief survey of the previous studies on the topic, I shall discuss the organization of the two stories and the role of the' main characters and central metaphors. The last section of my essay concerns the study of the epistemological consequences of Crane's view regarding the role of the reader in modem literature. Though this essay does not draw on a particular school of criticism, I will frequently. use some concepts taken from psychoanalysis (Jacques Lacan's distinction between the "imaginary" and the "symbolic", and the unstable ["floating"] nature of the signifier) 1 as well as phenomenology (Wolfgang Iser's description of the reading process as entailing Hideation", and leading to a heightening of the reader's self-awareness.)2 Studies of Crane have usually focused on matters related to his subscription to particular literary movements, such as realism or naturalism; 3 however, in the last two decades new vantage points have developed. The interest in the analysis of Crane's particular use of ambiguity and his vision of human perception have drawn the reader's attention to the epistemological problem of man's ability to interpret the universe. 4 With regard to narrative techniques, scholarship has 37